by Michael McGee Only 21 days into the year Dublin gained its first Leinster handball title. Eoin Kennedy from the St. Bridid's club defeated Coolboy's Michael Gregan by 21-7, 21-18. In the team league finals DCU had to come from behind to beat DIT in the Junior B final. Dan Leahy was the hero for DCU. Going into the last singles DCU were behind by 5 points. Leahy pulled out all the stops to record a famous win in a contest that lasted over two hours. Final score was 84-21 in DCU's favour. The winning team members were Steve Marken, David Smith, Charlie Nolan, Dan Leahy, Sinead Gallogly & Oisin Walsh. Intervarsity titles for Gallogly, Moran, Smith The Intervarsity 40 x 20 championships in Men's & Ladies Singles took place in Kingscourt from Thursday 1st February - 4th February. Sinead Gallogly from DCU defeated Siobhan Byrne from DIT by 15-2, 15-3 in the Ladies B final in all Dublin encounter. Paul Moran from DIT overcame John Horgan from UCD in the Men's A final in a thrilling encounter winning by 15-10, 15-11. David Smith DCU had an a cracking win over Shane Hayes Nuig in a brilliant contest that went the distance winning in three games 13-15, 15-14, 11-10. Emer Coyle of DIT reached the Ladies Open final but had to be content with silver against University of Limerick's Maria Daly. In the Ladies C final Orla Gaffney finished second to Tanya Jearn of University of Limerick 15-1, 15-6. Kennedy reaches Ulster open final Eoin Kennedy took part in the UIster Open which was hosted by the Kingscourt Club on Feb 10/11th last. The St. Brigid's player played outstanding handball to defeat Paul Brady the Irish, U.S. and World champion by 18-21, 21-11, 11-6. Kennedy lob serving to Brady's left hand was not working in the first game. In game two Kennedy went for broke and served directly to Brady's powerful right hand. The stakes were high he gambled and this time it paid off for him as he beat the champion by 21-11. In the tie breaker Kennedy with the better start while Brady was going for his shots from far out and missing them. Kennedy won the tie breaker by 11-6 in an match that lasted almost two years. However there was disappointment for Eoin as he met an inform Tony Healy from Cork in the final. At 14-14 in game one it was Healy who responded with great kills and fitness levels. Healy took the first game by 21-14. The second game was all Healy's as he stormed away to a 21-3 win. Fourth title in 5 years for Na Fianna The Senior team league final was contested by Naomh Padraig and Na Fianna. Na Fianna won their fourth title in 5 years. Christy Donnelly from Na Fianna had a 21-4, 21-8 win over Mick O' Donnell. Ian Jensen & Frank Daly of Na Fianna had to work hard to carve out a victory over John Ward and Johnny Westlake. It left Adrian Benson only requiring 2 points to get in the final singles match against Padraig Gaffney. He duly won the title for Na. Fianna. The winning team members were Christy Donnelly, Egin Jensen, Frank Daly, Adrian Benson, Ian Griffin & John Molloy. Dublin win 7 Leinster 40 x 20 titles Overall Dublin won 7 Leinster 40 x 20 Handball titles. Paddy Murray affectionately known as the Prince of Portobello won his 5th Leinster medal defeating Peter McTiernan of Na Fianna in an all Dublin final 21-5, 21-4. Fergal O' Riain Masters B singles & Eugene Kennedy Emerald Masters A singles both won Leinster titles the same evening in Ballymore Eustace. Dublin appeared in 3 more finals on Tuesday 6th March last. John Ward & Seamus Ahern pushed Kilkenny's Johnny Brennan & Joe Hennessy all the way before going down 16-21, 21-16, 21-14. In the Ruby Masters Mick O' Brien & Sylvie O' Dowd travelled to Leixlip to take on Kildare's Willie Doran & Declan Quigley. O' Dowd at 74 and a sprightly O'Brien at 66 gave inspirational performances before narrowly going down to the Lilywhites. Both will be strong contenders in the Leinster 60 x 30 championships. It was left up to Aine Gorman to end the evening on a high note and this she did. Gorman who was runner up in last year's decider made sure this time around defeating Laois's Ciara Dowling 21-11 21-12. It was Gorman's first Leinster title and fully deserved. John Molloy & his doubles partner Ned Flynn met in the final of the Diamond Masters. In a close and entertaining first game Molloy's greater fitness and hunger was the difference winning 21-14. In the second Molloy with a huge 17-1 lead eventually getting home 21-10 to win his 6th Leinster title and putting back to back Leinster titles in this grade. Paddy Murray & John Barton won the Emerald Masters B Doubles to bring Dublin Leinster handball haul to seven in the 40 x 20 championships. Eoin Kennedy played extremely well to reach the final of the Ulster Open. Kennedy from the St. Bridget's club defeated Irish U.S. and World Champion Cavan's Paul Brady by 18-21, 21-11, 11-6 in the sem-finals. However Kennedy couldn't carve out another gigantic win as Cork's Tony Healy played the game of his life winning 21-14, 21-3 in the final. Kilkenny hosted the FBD Nationals and yet again Kennedy faced Tony Healy. Paul Brady was forced out due to injury the week before after playing for the Cavan Senior football team against Sligo. Healy took full advantage and Kennedy had to settle for silver at the hands of Healy again. In the All-Ireland championshis semi-finals Eugene Kennedy already the holder of 20 All-Ireland titles in Masters, Silver and Golden Masters reached the final with a good win over Martin Cronin of Mayo while Paddy Murray from Portobello defeated Galway's Sean Finnegan by 21-9, 21-12. The finals are fixed for mid April with more handball titles look likely to be making their way to the capital Dublin Handball website is launched After months of careful planning the Dublin handball website was officially launched. Frank Semple Co. Secretary and P.R.O. Michael McGee met officials from the Dublin G.A.A. Board in Parnell Park on Saturday evening last 10th March prior to the Dublin v Cork League match. It turned out to be the perfect evening for handball and football with winning results each time. Gerry Harrington Chairman of the G.A.A. Board along with Vice Chairman Danny O' Connor kindly gave a few minutes of their time for the launch and this was very much appreciated by the handball board. After the photo shoot both Frank Semple & Michael McGee were guests and shown to their seats in the stand by the Co. Chairman. The website is a great media tool to have at our disposal and I would ask everyone to click into the site as much as possible and feedback is welcome on how we can improve the website further. I would like to acknowledge the input from Aine Gorman and Ciaran O'Sullivan for their hard work in getting the website off the ground and I thank them sincerely for their efforts in this regard. Already the website will have up to 6000 hits after just 9 months. Historic opening of St. Michan's handball court in Green Street St Michan's Park handball court on Green St. was officially declared open on March 5th last by Lord Mayor Vincent Jackman. This historic site near the markets area envelops Green St. Debtors Prison (1794) Green St. Court House (1797) where in 1803 the trail of Robert Emmet took place and the trails of Wolfe Tone were also held here. Newgate Gaol (1780-1893) where the death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald occurred in 1798, Halston St. Church (1811). The foundation walls of the Newgate gaol now form the boundary of the park. Two victims of Bloody Sunday in Croke Park 1920 had addresses here, James Teehan of 5 Green Street and William Robinson of 15 Little Britain Street. The City Council in their wisdom have maintained this classic (20 feet x 52 feet) alley with a state of the art back wall constructed of stainless steel pillars and a transparent material 250 times stronger than glass. This enables easy viewing of the activities inside, is great news for the security concerns of guardians and also operates as a public park amenity. The park has a great handball history where the great brothers Larry and Gerry Rowe won Senior All Ireland Doubles in 1946 and 1948. Larry won Senior Singles title 1938, 1947, 1949 and 1951. Paddy Monroe and Mick Fahey won an All Ireland Junior Doubles in 1953. Paddy Murray the prince of Portobello and Peter Mc Tiernan of Na Fianna contested the Emerald Masters B Leinster final in an all Dublin affair. Murray proved the victor on this occasion winning comfortably by 21-5, 21-4. Brian Carroll from D.I.T. reached the U.S Collegiates final in Los Angeles. In a fantastic final Carroll was narrowly beaten in the final by Luis Moreno that went down to the wire by 21-19, 18-21, 8-11. Eimer Ui Falluin from U.C.D. lost to Maria Daly from UL by 21-1, 21-11. In the ladies doubles final Emer Coyle & Aifric Naughton from D.I.T. had to settle for silver as they were beaten by Lake Forest's Lindsey Ross & Aimee Ulbert. Early March seen more Provincial titles come to Dublin with Fergal O'Riain winning the Masters B Singles and St. Brigid's Eugene Kennedy taking the Emerald Masters A Singles title on the same evening in Ballymore Eustace. Aine Gorman won the Ladies Junior B singles title with an impressive win over Laois's Ciara Dowling by 21-12, 21-11. There was widespread sadness when news came through on the death of Julie Long from the St.Brigid's Club in Blanchardstown. Julie won All-Ireland, European and World Championships. Battling illness over a long time she never lost her battling qualities as she fought bravely to the end. The huge turnout at her funeral which included Irish and Dublin handball Officials and World Champions was testament to Long's love of the sport. May she rest in peace. Eoin Kennedy reached the final of the FBD Nationals in Kilkenny but fell to Tony Healy in the final. He met Healy in the All-Ireland semi-final in Kilkenny and won 21-8 & 4-1 when Healy retired injured. There was no joy for Dublin Handball players in the All-Ireland semi-finals. John Molloy went down to Pat Clarke of Roscommon, Fergal O'Riain lost to Martin Cronin, Paddy Murray & John Barton couldn't handle Sligo's Pat O'Sullivan & Seamus Duffy. Aine Gorman lost to Mayo's Pauline Gallagher 21-8, 21-8. The same weekend Eoin Kennedy played Paul Brady in the All-Ireland senior singles final in Kingscourt. Kennedy played his heart out and matched Brady in the early stages in both games before Brady pulled away winning 21-13, 21-11 to win the treble of singles wins. In the Dublin Co.Championships Adrian Benson beat Christy Donnelly by 21-16, 16-21, 21-17 in an evenly contested senior singles final. In the Masters Doubles final Egin Jensen & Frank Daly beat Ned Flynn & John Molloy 21-13, 21-8. David Smith from DCU beat Dermot Reynolds of DIT in the Junior B2 singles final. Unfortunately our senior doubles pair of Eoin Kennedy & Egin Jensen bowed out of the Senior doubles competition at the semi-final stage to Mayo's Dessie Keegan & Joe McCann. Egin Jensen win U.S. Championship Egin Jensen travelled out for the U.S. championships which took place in the Minnesota Recreation complex in Minneapolis and came away with the Senior singles prize. Eugene Kennedy finally got his hands on the delayed Emerald Masters A singles title with a hard fought win over Monaghan's Michael McCarron. The final score in an exciting match was 18-21, 21-18, 21-13. Kennedy wins double of hardball titles while Dublin win first Junior doubles title in 24 years Eoin Kennedy & Egin Jensen retained their senior hardball doubles title with a hard earned win over an improving Mayo side comprising of Campbell Brennan & Vinnie Moran. Kennedy & Jensen winning by 13-21, 21-8, 21-15. The refixed senior hardball final was played and Eoin Kennedy bt Meath's Tom Sheridan by 9-21, 21-10, 21-12. The St. Brigid's star now has 4 hardball singles titles. In the Junior hardball doubles final Ian Griffin & Christy Donnelly both Na Fianna went all the way to win the final beating Roscommon's Chris Doolin & Glen Walsh. Final score was 21-11, 21-13. It was the first time Dublin won the title in 24 years since Eddie Lee & Rayfield Walsh also of Na Fianna won it back in 1983. Four handball officials were honoured by Dublin's Lord Mayor Vincent Jackson in the Mansion House at the Unsung Heroes Awards on June 5th last. They were Aine Gorman, Pat Ryan, Joe Varley & Michael McGee. Na Fianna won their first ever Leinster interclub open title with a win over Coolboy of Wicklow. The team members were Egin Jensen, Christy Donnelly, Ian Griffin, Kerry Hennessy & Frank Daly. Portobello reached the semi final of the Junior B only to be beaten by a strong Coolgreaney side from Wexford. Anguish for Na Fianna in Abbeylara In the All-Ireland 60 x 30 club championships semi-final Na Fianna lost to Ballaghaderreen of Mayo by 105-68. Na Fianna's hopes of reaching a first ever All-Ireland club final was dashed in Abbeylara. It started all so brightly for Egin Jensen in the first singles game against Balla's Joe McCann. Jensen had an unbelievable start against McCann cruising into a big 17-3 lead and looked odds on at taking the first game. Amazingly, McCann who looked out of it staged a remarkable recovery. He somehow rallied and only allowing Jensen one further score as he hauled in the Na Fianna man's big lead stealing the first game by 21-17. Jensen at forty-two years of age had nothing left in the tank as McCann ran out a comfortable winner taking the second game by 21-8. In the doubles Ian Griffin & Christy Donnelly this years Junior hardball doubles champions found Balla's Vinnie Moran & Paul Flynn in inspired form. Try as they did especially in the second game to get back into the contest Moran & Flynn duo extended their lead winning the doubles by 21-5, 21-18. In the National One Wall championships in Sligo Brian Boru's Michael McGee reached the sem-finals of the C singles only to lose out to eventual winner Niall Gordan from Roscommon. Kerry Hennessy gave it his all in the final singles match and almost pulled off a huge morale victory over Dessie Keegan the "Ballaghaderreen bomber". Keegan got the fright of his life and somehow escaped with the narrowest of wins by 21-20. There were Leinster 60 x 30 titles for Seamus Ahern & John Downey, Patrick Clerkin Emerald Masters B singles, Joe Cahill & Peter McTiernan Emerald Masters B doubles, Mick O'Brien Ruby Masters A singles and doubles with Sylvie O'Dowd, Frank Semple & Seamus Ahern Silver Masters B doubles, Eugene Kennedy & Paddy Murray Emerald Masters A doubles, Eugene also won the singles for good measure. Ian Griffin took the Junior singles amazingly it was his first Leinster singles title in 60 x 30. Ian's dad Anthony R.I.P. passed away during the Leinster campaign and the 30 y.o. Na Fianna star dedicated his Leinster and All-Ireland victory's in memory of his dad. Around that time also Kerry Hennessy's dad also passed away. Eoin Kennedy qualified for the Softball singles final following a good 21-20, 21-5 win over Mayo's Dessie Keegan. Michael Duxie Walsh came though the other semi-final. It's the repeat of the 2001,2002 finals. Kennedy's historic 4-in-a-row Dubliner Eoin Kennedy took the Martin Donnelly All-Ireland softball singles title for the 4th year in succession following his impressive win over the legendary Michael Ducksy" Walsh from Kilkenny in Croke Park on September 1st last Such was the attraction of seeing the big two in action there was queues outside the Croke Park handball centre an hour before the start. Eileen Dunne from RTE the well known Newsreader kept up the proud family tradition officiating as Master of Ceremonies for the evening. Kennedy off to a flyer And so the stage was set for the finale. Eoin Kennedy came on court and Michael "Ducksy" Walsh soon after to a huge cheer. Before the start there was a minutes silence for the late Eamon Law and Dublin's Julie Long who passed away this year. Katie McCarthy sung Amhran na bhFiann faultlessly. Eoin Kennedy got an unbelievable start as he hit 16 times champion Walsh for 16-0 in the opening skirmishes. Right from the start Kennedy had his homework done meticulously. Kennedy was very patient keeping the ball high up on the front wall, thus keeping Walsh out from the dangerous short line where he could off load winners from. Kennedy's two prong attack on Walsh worked a treat with the high returns to the front wall and the high lobbing serve to Walsh's left corner landing over on the right proved winners. Walsh from that whirlwind start from Kennedy managed to breath some life into his game and he gained 4 points. Kennedy kept the ball high up on the front wall waiting for Ducksy to make the mistakes. Kennedy went further clear to be on game ball and had chance to close out the game. Instead of going for a close in point he chose a passing shot that Ducksy reacted quickly too. Walsh hit back with 6 points of his own. Kennedy his second attempt made sure with a volley over on the right side for a 21-10 win in game one which lasted a little over 30 minutes in duration. Kennedy too strong for Walsh Game two Kennedy opened with a 6-0 lead. Ducksy at 41 y.o. put in a determined bid to get back into it. Walsh was dangerous when he got the chances from the short line in. Now it was Kennedy's turn to make some forced errors. Walsh cut the ball out and with a kill off the grid was only 2 behind Kennedy at 7-5. Kennedy patient in his play. Walsh won an excellent rally again when he ran in and got under the ball and rolled out. There was wild deafening cheers from the Kilkenny faithful as Ducksy at last showing some signs of the Ducksy of old to be only 7-6 behind. It was at this stage that Kennedy used another ploy and it worked perfectly. Kennedy using low hard drives with power. After winning point number 10 Kennedy with clenched fist sensed he had Walsh for the taking. For point number 13 Kennedy with a high lobbing ball to Walsh's left corner and was heading for the right corner. Walsh stumbled backwards and ended up falling beside the glass side wall. He picked himself up and was ready to continue. Kennedy with powerful passing returns to Walsh's left and right had him in a very commanding position and the champion went for the jugular. A number of quick scores off the left and right corners had him on game ball and he duly finished it as Walsh missed the return. Kennedy raised his arms in triumph and both players embraced at the end. Uachtaran Cumann Leathcleas Gael Nicky Brennan presented fellow Kilkenny man Ducksy Walsh with his runners-up medal and the Corn Puirseil Cup and winners medal to Eoin Kennedy. Two weeks later Eoin Kennedy was back in headquarters along with Egin Jensen as they went in search of the 3-in-a-row of softball doubles wins. Treble for Dublin and Kennedy's grand slam Egin Jensen & Eoin Kennedy won their third successive Martin Donnelly softball doubles with a comfortable victory over Mayo's Dessie Keegan & Kevin Geraghty from Mayo played in Croke Park on Saturday 15th September last. For Eoin Kennedy the 28 y.o. from the St. Brigid's club in Blanchardstown is a year he will remember fondly and entering the history books as only the 3rd player to win the grand slam of 60 x 30 titles, the others being the late John Ryan (Wexford) 1957, and Walter O'Connor (Meath) 1998. Double trouble as Jensen and Kennedy expose Mayo Dublin were first on court followed shortly afterwards by the Mayo men. Kevin Geraghty came in for the injured Joe McCann. Before the start Eileen Dunne of RTE Master of Ceremonies read out the achievements of the players while Katie McCarthy from Westmeath sang Amhran na bhFiann. Referee Paddy Collins from Tipperary got the game under way. Kevin Geraghty the late replacement for the injured Joe McCann served first but straight away Kennedy got Dublin into serve. The favourites going into a 2-0 lead when the unbelievable happened. Kevin Geraghty missed a high return down the right, Keegan seeing the situation raced to the back wall. Only about 5 feet from the glass back wall and his back to the front wall Keegan somehow returned nonchalantly with his right a back hander landing perfectly onto the front wall a low shot that rolled out. Kennedy was ready to pounce but the placed ball from Keegan's was so accurate that Kennedy could only look on. It is a shot that is well worth looking at again and again and hopefully the TG4 Camera man will show the clip. Geraghty got a nice score off the left side left leaving Dublin just 3-2 in front. Egin Jensen started to fire up with a high serve to Keegan's left and landing over on Geraghty's right. Dublin soon pulled away Kennedy was razor sharp even Keegan's low pounding shots that looked winners was picked beautifully by Kennedy and the Dublin players played Geraghty's right side to maximum effect. With Jensen's accurate cross court serving Keegan was kept out of the game and Geraghty faced the bombardment from the Dubliners. Kennedy & Jensen racked up an 18-2 lead without reply. Mayo got 3 more scores and 2 more accurate serves from Jensen to Geraghty's right corner ended the first game by 21-5. Independent Cup stays in Dublin for another year In game two it was all Dublin. Keegan taking all the serves from the back with Geraghty standing a little ahead of him. Geraghty was missing chances while Keegan persisted with going for the big kills from far out mostly dropping short. Dublin raced into a 13-0 lead. After this score Keegan with his hands on his waist waiting Dublin's serve knew that the final was going away from them. Jensen had an excellent evening for Dublin and his great serving and great awareness cutting out Mayo's returns put Dublin into a comfortable position. Mayo got a score but Dublin continued to head for the finishing line. Kennedy had a chance to wrap it up at 20-1 but missed. Mayo got 4 points in a row but it came too late as Dublin duly won the treble and Kennedy celebrated his grand slam. Martin Donnelly of the sponsors presented Eoin Kennedy & Egin Jensen with the Independent Cup. Gary McNulty from Na Fianna travelled to the U.S. handball open in Los Angeles and played in the C singles event. Paul Brady from Cavan won took the Men's open and the $25,000 dollar prize money on offer. The weekend of October 21st last seen Dublin players contest 5 All-Ireland 60 x 30 finals and winning 4. John Downey & Seamus Ahern were first into the "ring" in the Silver Masters A doubles in Mullingar and won by 21-13 in 2 games. Ian Griffin received a walkover from Clare's Declan Frarley in the Junior Singles. Had he been fit the result would have most likely have stayed the same as Griffin played inspired handball this year going through the 5 games in Leinster in impressive form and defeating last year's finalist Lorcan Maughen from Roscommon in impressive form. The following day in Clogh Dublin were in 3 more finals. Joe Cahill at the young age of 67 and Peter McTiernan at 58 turned back the years in style winning their first All-Ireland medals with a hard fought win over Gary Howard & Jim Quinn from Tipperary by 11-21, 21-13, 21-13. Frank Semple & Seamus O'Mahony also won All-Ireland medals for the first time when accounting for Paul Maher & Kevin Spain of Tipperary in straight games. O'Mahony had to be cajoled by Semple to enter the doubles and lady luck shone on them throughout the competition. For Frank Semple the final was tinged with sadness as just days before the semi-final Frank's mother Eithne R.I.P. passed away. I am sure she was looking down from high willing her son to an historic win. Unfortunately Eugene Kennedy & Paddy Murray in the Emerald Masters A doubles found Tipperary's Pakie Mullins & Sean Doyle that little bit stronger on the day as the Dubs went down by 21-15, 21-16 in a tight contest. In the Intervarsity 60 x 30 championships hosted this year by Dublin. Dublin players reached a number of finals. Niall Gordan from D.I.T. was beaten by John Kennedy NUIG in the Men's B final. Katie Costello also D.I.T. had to settle for silver in the Ladies A final to Marianna Rushe from NUIG. Oisin Walsh form DCU gained silver in the Men's C final. Eimer Ni Falluin U.C.D. & Orla Gaffney D.C.U. were beaten in 3 games by Marianna Rushe & Sarah Loughnane from NUIG by 12-15, 15-12, 11-0. In the C team finals DCU defeated D.I.T. by 60-44 Dublin Juveniles continue to impress In the Leinster Colleges 40 x 20 brother & sister Naoise Greene & Dianaimh Greene reached Leinster Colleges finals. Dublin had the toughest start possible to the Leinster Juvenile 40 x20 Championships on Saturday March 10th last in the O'Loughlins G.A.A Centre against Kilkenny. Only Niall McKenna & Conor Timoney came through with a 15-4, 15-10 win over Padraig Walsh & William Phelan from the host county. There was encouraging displays from Pierce Caulfield & Cian O' Dalaigh and Joseph Varley for the Boys while Siobhan Cahill & Eleanor Buggy just lost out to Suzanne Power & Eimear Fennelly after a nail biting finish that went the distance before the Dublin girls bowing out on a score line of 9-15, 15-12, 15-9 in the U-13 doubles grade. Niall McKenna & Conor Timoney reach Leinster Final Niall McKenna & Conor Timoney reached the Leinster Final but were beaten by Wexford's Sean Stafford & Dale Flynn 15-5 15-5. However there were better fortunes for the young Dublin stars in the B championship with wins for Cian O'Dalaigh & Corey Fay in the Boys U-13 final while Naoise Greene & John Walsh also proved successful in the Boys U-15 doubles final. Pierce Caulfield was narrowly beaten in the Boys U-13 singles. Na Fianna had 2 teams in the Feile Finals that was played in Kilkenny on June 15/16th last. The girls team were Dianaimh Greene, Lisa McKenna, Cliona McCullough, Eleanor Buggy, Laura Booth. The team were just beaten by 1 ace in the semi-final. Lisa McKenna was runner up in the skills competition. Na Fianna boys of John Walsh, Naoise Greene, Pierce Caulfield, Cian O'Dalaigh, Corey Fay were beaten in the final by the St. Mellon's club from Monaghan. Brian Boru's team consisted of Eoin Prendergast, Joseph Varley, Daniel Varley, Darragh Ambrose, Evan Masterson. Joseph Varley was runner up in the skills competition. Overall 53 teams from around the country took part. O'Dalaigh & Fay are Leinster champions Cian O'Dalaigh & Corey Fay from the Na Fianna club played outstanding handball to defeat Wexford's Richard Martin & Eoin O'Leary in the Leinster U-13 doubles final played in Garryhill by 15-6, 15-11 With all the training and effort put in by the Na Fianna lads it came as no surprise when they came out on top. O'Dalaigh was in splendid form ably assisted by Corey Fay they proved too strong. The pair are trained by Cian's day Frank an All-Ireland handball champion and the current Dublin Juvenile handball chairman. The last U-13 Doubles pairing from the capital to win a Leinster 60 x 30 title was Finbarr O'Callaghan & Francis Cunningham back in 1987. Great strides have been taken in Dublin handball clubs in the last number of years. Na Fianna, Brian Boru's, Portobello, Stag, Oldtown, St. Brigid's have all good Juvenile structures in place. Na Fianna mentors Frank Daly, Pat Ryan and Christy Donnelly can be justifiably pleased with their efforts. Tweet

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